Central LA Site Goes on Market After High-Rise Project Approval

Less than two months after getting city approval to build three high-rise apartment buildings in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood near Chinatown—the first proposed skyscrapers in Central LA, a project that generated significant NIMBY backlash—developer Palisades Capital Partners has put the site on the market.

Berkadia has posted a listing on Loopnet for 6.19 acres “of entitled land” at 1111 Sunset Boulevard. The listing also offers a 1.5-acre parcel across the street, without specifying an asking price for either property.

Santa Monica-based Palisades, which bought the property—which was the former headquarters of LA’s Metropolitan Water District—in 2015. In June, LA’s City Council unanimously approved the developers plans for a mega-project on the site, which is near Dodger Stadium.

The developers filed plans to build a cluster of high-rises, including 39-story, 30-story and 17-story buildings, as well as two- and four-story bungalows, on the site in the neighborhood bordering Chinatown.

The plans for the $600M, 1M SF project, which has been compared to LA’s Century City development, include 737 apartment units and a 180-unit hotel. The skyscrapers would be the first in LA outside of the cluster of tall buildings in Downtown LA.

The mixed-use project also envisions 48K SF of office space and 95K SF of retail, including shops and restaurants, with parking space for 900 cars, according to the plans.

The developers also said James Corner Field Operations, who previously designed NYC’s High Line, will design the landscaping for the project, which is slated to include two acres of open space along with courtyards.

Prior to the City Council’s approval, the area located near the interchange of the 101 and 110 freeways had not been zoned to permit high-rise buildings.

A city council member who represented the Echo Park high-rise development and voted to approve it, Gil Cedillo, was defeated in a June primary election by Eunisses Hernandez, a community leader who opposed the development.

Hernandez told the LA Times that the project doesn’t meet the needs of the community for affordable housing. According to the project filing, the development sets aside 76 units, about 10% of the total, for affordable housing.

“We’re in a moment where we really need to prioritize deeply, deeply affordable housing, and 10 percent is not enough in my eyes,” Hernandez told the newspaper.

A group known as Chinatown Community for Equitable Development sent a letter to the city council stating Palisades’ plans for the Echo Park development would lead to “gentrification and displacement.”